Professor Pillard Nominated to U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit

June 4, 2013 —

Professor Nina Pillard

Georgetown University Law Center Professor Cornelia "Nina" Pillard has been nominated by President Barack Obama to fill one of three vacancies on the 11-member United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

"Nina will be an extraordinary judge. She has a superb background as a government official and a Supreme Court advocate. She is a remarkably gifted teacher, and she is a thoughtful and engaged scholar who grapples with important questions," said Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor. "Her great judgment and experience, her deep knowledge of the law, and her commitment to the rule of law and to justice are a rare combination and the perfect qualifications for an appellate judge."

Pillard joined the Georgetown Law faculty after spending a decade as a practicing lawyer. At the Law Center she teaches civil procedure, constitutional law, and a variety of upper-level seminars and courses. She is the faculty co-director of the Georgetown Law Supreme Court Institute.

Pillard has briefed more than 25 cases in the United States Supreme Court and has argued nine before that Court. She has also litigated cases in federal courts of appeals and trial courts around the country. Litigation highlights include United States v. Virginia (1996), which opened the Virginia Military Institute to women, and Nevada Department of Social Services v. Hibbs (2003), which sustained Family and Medical Leave Act rights against constitutional challenge.

Pillard served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 1998 to 2000 and as Assistant to the Solicitor General from 1994 to 1997.

A magna cum laude graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, she clerked for Judge Louis H. Pollak of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

About Georgetown Law

Georgetown University Law Center is one of the world´s premier law schools. It is pre-eminent in several areas, including constitutional, international, tax and clinical law, and the faculty is among the largest in the nation. Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, it has a strong tradition of public service and is dedicated to the principle that law is but a means, justice is the end.